The Epic Hacker War of '08
by MatildaSwan
Summary: Breaking in the Quantico mainframe used to be child's play, but whoever the FBI had working their security now was seriously good and Henry was in trouble.


Set during _Folding Man_ for Sanctuary and just after _Penelope_ for Criminal Minds

**Also, **I've swapped up Sanctuary canon for this a little; Will worked for the FBI in the webisodes, and the Agency in the series. I've changed it back for this fic.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think

*Smacks forehead* IDIOT that I am forgot to thank the ever lovely Passionate Cec' for her beta skills. *sends self to naught corner*

…

It was a simple enough exercise, a quick snatch and grab of some data about this case Will worked in Austin. Some files on a bank robbery gone wrong; witness statements, police reports and the results of some DNA found at the scene. Nothing strenuous, minor stuff Henry could do with one eye shut. It wouldn't even need his full mainframe; he had everything he needed on his laptop and tablet. So when Will knocked on his door late that night and asked for his help he hadn't even bothered to get out of bed. Why sacrifice the comfort of a blanket for a cold lab?

After all, the mainframe at Quantico was easy enough to hack into; Henry had proved as much when he was 18. Magnus had given his personal setup upgrades for his birthday and after a bit of tweaking here and there, Henry had test driven his new baby through the personnel files. He'd never been caught, even after leaving a few Easter eggs here and there.

So it should have been simple, it should have been easy. Henry Foss had hacked into dozens of government agency databases, hundreds of secure networks. He was a genius when it came to technology, a master of machinery and an expert hacker.

But whoever was at the FBI had employed to fix up their security was just as good as he was. And he was in trouble.

…..

Penelope Garcia had been in her nest, giving her babies some much needed TLC now that the latest case was over. Kevin Lynch might have been cute, but he was a bit of a slob. A slob that had put his grubby mitts all over her precious computers, and run god knows what programs through her babies.

She was running a defragging program on her backup drives when her computer started beeping. After the King Fisher had hacked into her mainframe she'd written and installed a code that monitored all outsider infiltration to any section of the Quantico mainframe. And she'd just added a few upgrades after the Battle incident, so she knew when someone was trying to hack her files. Leaping to action, her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Come to mama!" issuing a challenge though her screen

…

He'd gotten cocky, commonplace. He hadn't had a real challenge in years, so he'd forgotten what it was like to have opposition. He'd gotten trapped in an algorithm and panicked, but had managed to reroute his direction through another half a dozen proxy servers until he lost his tail, and calmed down.

Then he ran into a firewall that would have made Kevin Mitnick proud.

Swearing as he jumped out of bed, Henry sprinted to his lab, oblivious to his lack of pants; he'd been in bed after all. His fingers danced over the board all the way to his lab, attempting to back hack his way out. He interfaced with his mainframe and sat down; there was no way he was going to shy away from something like this. He was Henry Foss; Computer Whizz and Expert Hacker after all.

However, Will had noticed the lack of pants, and grabbed a pair from the corner of the wardrobe before jogging towards the sound of Henry's expletives.

…..

Garcia filtered though his dud servers, and re-patched her virus back through his proxy history. She stonewalled his next assault, and sent him a little 'something something'.

"Got you, you son of a bitch! And so you'll remember me," hitting the enter key with venom, mocking sweetness dripping from her lips.

The door opened behind her, and the BAU's resident heart-throb entered.

"You're in a chipper mood, what's my girl been doing?"

"Saving the world from the bad guys, one hacker at a time!" she boasted, beaming from ear to ear.

"In that case, I got _my_ favourite Goddess _her_ favourite beverage," Derek passed Garcia the takeout coffee cup he was holding with a smile that could melt the ice caps.

_You were a worthy adversary, but no one beats Penelope Garcia_, she though as she took the cup and returned the smile.

…

'GAME OVER. YOU LOSE. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME' flashed across the screen

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Henry yelled at the screen just as Will entered the lab.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I just got duped, big time. There's God knows what in the system, and Magnus is so not going to be happy!" the look of horror and humiliation on Henry's face was heartbreaking.

"What am I not going to be happy about?" both turned, to see Magnus look as prim and proper as always, regardless of the hour. She sported a stare that screamed _I'm not going to be impressed, am I?_

Will looked at Henry, and back to Magnus and the pants in his hands. He thrust the jeans into Henry's hands and stuttered an excuse about needing to make a few calls before fleeing the lab, leaving a slightly amused Magnus and a highly embarrassed Henry in his wake.

Henry?" she repeated her tone leaving no room for argument, although she was hiding a smile at the sight before here. Barefoot and self-conscious, jeans strategically placed to cover some of his legs as well; Henry looked as humiliated as he had the day she'd been called to the school. Of course he'd been ten at the time and had a valid reason to be pant less.

"I'm sorry," his tone reminiscent of that same day, and Helen sighed and let her smile escape.

"Never mind Henry, let's get you dressed and eat some ice cream, shall we?" the same question she'd asked her child all those years ago_, _taking his hand as they walked toward the kitchen.


End file.
